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Sensation seeking and high school performance
Personality and Individual Differences 117 (2017) 117–121
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Sensation seeking and high school performance Ramon Cladellas a,⁎, Anna Muro b, Eric A. Vargas-Guzmán b, Adriana Bastardas a, Montserrat Gomà-i-Freixanet b a b
Department of Educational and Basic Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Department of Health and Clinical Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 6 October 2016 Received in revised form 26 May 2017 Accepted 30 May 2017 Available online xxxx Keywords: Sensation seeking Academic performance Gender Personality
a b s t r a c t Previous studies have shown that Sensation Seeking, one of the traits most related to risk taking behavior, is associated with lower academic performance in students with primary and secondary levels of education. Given the relevance of identifying early outcomes of sensation seekers to prevent negative risk taking, the present study explored the relationship between sensation seeking and academic performance in a sample of 216 high-school students (55.6% girls) aged 16 to 18 years old. We administered the Spanish version of the Junior Sensation Seeking Scale (J-SSS) and collected average grades and specific grades from four mandatory school subjects offered in the same semester. Results showed that girls obtained significantly higher average grades and that academic performance was associated with low scores in sensation seeking in both genders. Furthermore, gender and J-SSS scores were the predictors of academic achievement (R2 = 0.073). Results are discussed in terms of the implications of sensation seeking in academic achievement, and we conclude that individualized education programs would include specific interventions for those scoring high on sensation seeking in order to facilitate their academic achievement. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Dispositional theories of personality have long studied the Sensation Seeking (SS) trait to understand, describe and predict risk taking behavior defining it as “the seeking of varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences, and the willingness to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks for the sake of such experience” (Zuckerman, 1994, p. 27).This trait has strong psychobiological correlates, with males scoring higher than females (Zuckerman, 2005) and following a curvilinear pattern that increase between ages 10–15 and decline or remain stable thereafter (Muro, Gomà-i-Freixanet, & Adan, 2012). The Sensation seeking trait has important behavioral implications specifically at adolescence since this developmental period is particularly sensitive to the engagement in risk-taking activities which may result in inadequate decision making with negative outcomes (Gomà-i-Freixanet, Grande, Valero, & Puntí, 2001; Legrand, Gomà-i-Freixanet, Kaltenbach, & Joly, 2007; Steinberg, 2007) that ultimately may result in poor academic performance/achievement. A study using the SS (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998) conducted with a sample of 470 adolescents from secondary levels of education found that boys scoring high on SS, impulsivity and aggressiveness performed worse at school. Disinhibition and Experience Seeking subscales were the most associated with school achievement, with low but significant correlations of −0.24 and −0.17 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Educational and Basic Psychology, Edifici B, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. E-mail address: [email protected] (R. Cladellas).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.049 0191-8869/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
respectively. These associations were not found in girls, suggesting that gender is an important variable to control for when studying the relationship between SS and school performance. This study concluded that the increase disinhibited personality profile of boys probably impaired academic achievement. Empirical results also suggest that the propensity to engage in sensation seeking behaviors interact with environmental characteristics. A recent study by Eklund and Fritzell (2013) has found that school influence is one of the most relevant environmental factors for adolescents engaging in sensation seeking behaviors. This study conducted with 5619 adolescents from 89 secondary schools showed that high scores on sensation seeking were associated with low achievement, disadvantaged school settings and an increased risk for delinquency. Results showed that impulsive and sensation seeking adolescents had less delinquency and higher achievement if they attended the advantaged schools. However, the SS trait was assessed with a scale made up of five items based on the impulsivity and thrill-seeking scales of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (Andershed, Kerr, Stattin, & Levander, 2002). A meta-analysis study exploring the relationship between personality and academic achievement showed that Conscientiousness, which is inversely correlated with SS, is the strongest and most reliable personality variable associated with academic performance at all levels of education (Poropat, 2009). Interestingly, it has been reported that girls at around 16 years old score significantly higher on conscientiousness, suggesting that girls' advantage in academic settings might be mediated by their higher conscientiousness and lower disinhibition (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998; Fischer, Schult, & Hell, 2013). It has also been suggested
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that the general girls' advantage might be due to their better verbal and language skills, and although gender differences in school achievement are rather small, with an overall estimated d of 0.225 (Voyer & Voyer, 2014), the female advantage in school grades is a common finding in the literature (e.g., Gomà-i-Freixanet, García, & Pérez, 1991). Some other lines of research on academic performance have focused on study habits as well-planned and deliberated patterns of study that need high constancy on the part of the students toward understanding academic subjects and passing examinations (Kaur & Pathania, 2015). For example, Azikiwe (1998) defines a study habit as the way a student plans his private readings, after classroom learning, in order to attain mastery of the subject. Consequently, study habits entail the adoption of behavioral routines that facilitate attentional focus on cognitive performance, such as reading and comprehending. At this point, it is worth noting that the traits that are associated with SS and reward sensitivity are also associated with attentional and behavioral disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Graziano et al., 2015). Therefore, from this evidence it is not surprising to find a negative association between SS and academic achievement (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998; Eklund & Fritzell, 2013; Schmitz & Wilhelm, 2014). The association between personality and academic achievement has been studied at the primary and secondary levels of education, but results are inconsistent regarding sex differences: at primary schooling, gender was not significant, while at secondary schooling the effect was only found in boys. The aim of the present study was twofold: a) to explore and replicate previous findings on the relationship between gender, sensation seeking and academic performance in a group of adolescents attending secondary levels of education; and b) to find out if gender, age and/or SS predicted academic achievement. We hypothesized that lower academic performance would be associated with higher scores on SS only in boys and that girls would outperform boys. 2. Methods 2.1. Participants An initial sample of 230 students from three representative charter high schools from Barcelona province participated in this study. Only those participants (93.9%) who entirely answered the questionnaire were included in the data analyses. The final sample (n = 216) consisted of 120 girls (55.6%) and 96 boys, with ages ranging from 16 to 18 years old (M = 16.91; SD = 0.71). 2.2. Materials To assess the sensation seeking trait, the Spanish version of the Junior Sensation Seeking Scale (J-SSS; Pérez, Generós, Plá, & Simó, 1986) was administered. This is an adaptation for adolescents of the Sensation Seeking Scale for adults (Zuckerman, Eysenck, & Eysenck, 1978). The J-SSS includes a total score (J-SSS) and four subscales assessing: Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS), Experience Seeking (ES), Disinhibition (Dis), and Boredom Susceptibility (BS). The TAS subscale contains items expressing a desire to engage in sports or other physically risky activities that provide unusual sensations of speed or defiance of gravity, such as parachuting, scuba diving, or skiing. Because most of the activities are not common, the majority of the items are expressed as intentions (“I would like…”) rather than reports of experience. An attitude item that summarizes the factor is “I like risky sports very much.” The ES subscale encompasses items measuring the seeking of novel sensations and experiences through the mind and senses, travelling, or being unconventional. The Dis subscale contains items describing seeking sensations through social activities such as parties, social drinking, and sex. Finally, the BS subscale measures intolerance for repetitive experiences of any kind, including routine work and boring people. The final total score of the J-SSS is obtained by summing up the four subscales. The scale contains 40 dichotomous items, with scores ranging from 0 to 40 (highest sensation
seeking score). This version also includes a Lie subscale (10 items), assessing social desirability. The internal consistency of the J-SSS for the present sample was alpha = 0.77 and those of the subscales were: TAS = 0.75; ES = 0.72; Dis = 0.69 and BS = 0.64. The reliability of the total scale is similar to that found by the author (Zuckerman et al., 1978).Table 1 shows the correlations between the total scale and the subscales. Correlations among subscales show a reasonable degree of independence and a satisfactory close relationship with the total score. Additionally, we requested the student's current semester grades from their corresponding tutors in order to obtain objective data of their academic performance. Average and exam grades are considered useful measures of academic performance (Poropat, 2009). For the present study, tutors facilitated the students' academic transcript. Researchers registered the grades of four compulsory subjects shared by all High School groups: Philosophy, Native Language (Spanish, Catalan) and Foreign Language (English). It is worth noting that scores from language-based reasoning subjects are suggested to be good predictors of the overall average grade (García, Alvarado, & Jiménez, 2000) and the average grade of the current semester was also obtained calculating the mean grade of each student's academic record. Spanish academic grading system is based on a scale ranging from 0 to 10 (maximum grade).
2.3. Procedure Educational services from Barcelona provided a list with the 23 charter high schools in the province of Barcelona. A charter school is a public school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established public school system in which it is located. From this list, five schools were randomly selected to participate in the study design. Two of them did not accept to collaborate. The number of students per class ranged between 28 and 32 students, resulting in an initial sample of 364 students. Analyses showed that the three schools that participated in the study did not show significant differences in any of the sociodemographic variables recorded. High school headmasters and parents were informed and gave consent prior to participants' inclusion in this study. Some students were discarded for not having parental consent: 34% from one school, 28% from the second school and 38% from the final school. In total, 230 students participated in the study, but only 216 (93.91%) were included in the analyses since the rest did not complete one or more items of the questionnaire. There are no significant differences between the average grade of the students who didn't answer the questionnaire for not having parental consent, the average grade of those students who left one or more items blank, and the selected sample (F = 2.66; p = 0.107). The questionnaire was administered by the research assistants and participants completed the questionnaire voluntarily in classroom settings. The administration process was conducted in groups of 20 to 25 students. When giving instructions, research assistants explained that the results would be treated confidentially. Students did not receive any academic or economic reward for their collaboration. The Ethical Committee of the university and the high schools' management teams approved the protocol. Table 1 Inter-correlations of the sub-scales.
TAS ES Dis BS
ES
Dis
BS
JSSS
0.21⁎
0.31⁎ 0.26⁎
0.11 0.14 0.23⁎
0.69⁎ 0.61⁎ 0.70⁎ 0.56⁎
Notes: J-SSS = Junior Sensation Seeking Scale; TAS = Thrill and Adventure Seeking; ES = Experience Seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom Susceptibility. ⁎ p b 0.001.
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2.4. Statistical analyses
Table 3 Global adjustment statistics for all variables.
The fact that subjects in the same group (classes or school) may not be independent constitutes a serious breach of a basic assumption of the general linear model: independence between observations. Keeping this in mind, we carried out a multivariate analysis consisting of three levels: level 1 (student); level 2 (classes) and level 3 (school). School and classes have not been treated separately but jointly as classes are nested within schools. Table 2 shows the corresponding intra-class correlations (ICC) and design effects of all the dependent variables (school grades and J-SSS scores) being 0.049 (4.9%) the highest ICC value found and all design effects resulting in b 2. Further, Table 3 shows how the difference between the −2 log-likelihood value for the single-level model and the −2 log-likelihood value for the multilevel model is, for all variables, less than the critical value for a test at the 5% level in a chi-squared distribution. We clearly reject the hypothesis of School-Class differences and conclude that there is no evidence of between-school-class variation in any of the variables. These results support the non-inclusion of a multilevel analysis in the article. The differences that can be found in the results are not significant. Analyzing data with multilevel models when they don't provide a bias reduction adds unnecessary parameters to the model and contradicts the principle of parsimony, increases residual variance and, consequently, the size of the confidence intervals, and in general reduces statistical power. Taking into account all of the above we carried out the following statistical analyses. We calculated descriptive statistics for school grades and for J-SSS scores, and conducted a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) considering the four individual subject results and a separate ANCOVA with the average grades score testing for sex differences. We also conducted a second MANCOVA considering the subscales of the J-SSS and a separate ANCOVA with the total J-SSS testing for sex differences. In both analyses, age was introduced as a covariate. We also calculated the observed power and partial eta-squared (η2) as a measure of effect size. Furthermore, we calculated Pearson correlations between the average grades and the J-SSS and its 4 subscales for the total sample and by gender, controlling for age. Finally, an additional linear regression analysis was performed using a stepwise procedure to select the most predictive variable of academic performance. Data analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical package (version 20.0), and statistical tests were bilateral with Type 1 error set at 5%.
Table 2 Estimates of covariance parameters, ICC (intra-class correlations) and DE (Design Effect) for all variables. Variable
Parameter
Variance Estimate
Sig.
ICC
DE
Average grades
Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School)
2.129481 0.075540 3.014498 0.031115 3.342665 0.168583 2.960955 0.058031 5.033085 0.263212 27.755675 0.507101 5.814677 0.015346 3.584730 0.135710 4.848799 0.038607 3.739415 0.105683
0.000 0.376 0.000 0.725 0.000 0.225 0.000 0.559 0.000 0.189 0.000 0.578 0.000 0.872 0.000 0.366 0.000 0.706 0.000 0.448
0.034
1.41
0.010
1.12
0.048
1.58
0.019
1.23
0.049
1.59
0.018
1.22
0.003
1.04
0.036
1.43
0.008
1.10
0.027
1.32
Philosophy Catalan Spanish English J-SSS TAS ES Dis BS
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Variable
−2 log single model
−2 log multilevel model
Difference
Average grades Philosophy Catalan Spanish English J-SSS TAS ES Dis BS
784.848 854.780 881.279 852.708 961.966 1333.613 994.382 899.530 956.246 901.709
783.453 854.629 878.038 852.222 958.567 1333.181 994.349 896.403 956.017 899.336
1.39 0.15 3.24 0.49 3.39 0.43 0.03 3.13 0.23 2.37
3. Results Descriptive statistics are shown in Table 4 for the total sample and by sex. A first MANCOVA and ANCOVA for academic performance showed significant sex differences, with girls obtaining higher average grades, as well as higher grades in the rest of the subjects except for English. A second MANCOVA and ANCOVA for J-SSS scores showed that boys scored significantly higher in TAS and lower in ES. Table 5 shows correlations between average grades and J-SSS for the total sample and by gender. For the total sample, average grades were negatively correlated with the total scale and the subscales. Regarding gender, boys' average grade correlated significantly only with J-SSS; while as for girls, average grades correlated significantly with the J-SSS and TAS subscale. After testing with the z statistic if the pattern of correlations in both genders was different, we found that it did not differ between boys and girls. With the aim of testing if gender interacted with sensation seeking values, we generated a new variable which was the result of crossing gender with J-SSS. We conducted a multiple regression analysis including this newly generated variable, age, gender and J-SSS. This regression showed that the interaction was not significant (β = 0.065, p = 0.834). Therefore we readjusted the model without including the interaction. The final model (see Table 6) including gender and J-SSS indicated that sex (β = 0.195) and J-SSS (β = −0.179) were the predictors of academic performance (R2 = 0.073). 4. Discussion 4.1. Conclusions The goal of the present study was to explore to what extent gender and sensation seeking are associated with academic performance in a sample of high-school adolescents. We hypothesized that lower academic performance would be associated with higher scores on SS only in boys. Our hypothesis has been partially confirmed since the present results indicate that this trend is found for both genders. Although the correlations found between achievement and SS are low, the consistent pattern of an inverse relationship suggests that SS could affect academic achievement in a similar direction than high scores in Extraversion, Neuroticism, or Psychoticism do (Poropat, 2009). However the present study did not find any interaction with gender. Thus results from previous research in secondary school settings that revealed that only boys who scored higher in SS underperform at school (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998) have not been replicated. These differences might be due to sampling characteristics, sociocultural changes across time or delayed pubertal maturation of some adolescents. Another difference with previous samples in secondary school settings (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998) is that in the present sample the subscales most associated with overall achievement in high-schoolers were TAS and Dis, while in lower grades the associated subscales were ES and Dis. It is noticeable that in the present sample, girls score significantly higher than boys in ES. This might suggest that SS behaviors could differ by gender through the stages of
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Table 4 Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations, F, p, η2, observed power and sex effect (IC 95%)) of grades and J-SSS for the total sample and by sex. Sex
Average grades Philosophy Catalan Spanish English J-SSS TAS ES Dis BS
Total sample (n = 216) M (SD)
Boys (n = 96) M (SD)
Girls (n = 120) M (SD)
F
p
η2
Observed power
Sex effect (IC 95%)
6.28 (0.09) 5.96 (0.12) 5.85 (0.13) 5.94 (0.12) 5.97 (0.15) 23.43 (0.36) 6.37 (0.16) 6.46 (0.13) 6.07 (0.15) 4.53 ± 0.13
5.97 (0.13) 5.55 (0.15) 5.41 (0.18) 5.57 (0.17) 5.70 (0.23) 23.68 (0.52) 6.85 (0.25) 5.88 (0.19) 6.42 (0.21) 4.53 (0.20)
6.53 (0.13) 6.29 (0.17) 6.19 (0.17) 6.23 (0.16) 6.19 (0.20) 23.23 (0.51) 5.98 (0.21) 6.93 (0.17) 5.80 (0.21) 4.53 (0.18)
7.11 8.60 7.79 5.30 2.04 0.11 6.59 17.09 3.48 0.15
0.008 0.004 0.006 0.022 0.154 0.223 0.011 0.000 0.063 0.702
0.032 0.039 0.035 0.024 0.009 0.001 0.030 0.074 0.016 0.001
0.756 0.831 0.794 0.630 0.296 0.062 0.724 0.984 0.459 0.067
−0.2.666 (−0.871; −0.130) −0.2.933 (−1.163; −0.228) −2.792 (−1.200; −0.207) −2.302 (−0.993; −0.077) −1.429 (−1.057; 0.168) 0.328 (−1.210; 1.693) 2.566 (0.197; 1.503) −4.134 (−1.587; −0.562) 1.866 (−0.032; 1.169) −0.384 (−0.631; 0.425)
Notes: J-SSS: Junior Sensation Seeking Scale; TAS = Thrill and Adventure Seeking; ES = Experience Seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom Susceptibility.
adolescence, and that some specific SS subscales discriminate performance at different levels of education. Accordingly, further longitudinal studies would be needed to disentangle this association. Although in the present study SS and sex only explain 7.3% of the variance in average grades, it is worth noting that some studies using global models of personality explained around 15% of the variance in academic performance (Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2003; Komarraju, Karau, Schmeck, & Avdic, 2011). The modest predictive value of the SS trait in the present study might probably be due to the fact that this is a narrow personality trait considered alone in the analyses, and other traits or broader dimensions of personality have not been included. Despite this modest predictive value, the consistent inverse relationship found between SS and school grades might confirm that the arousing need of seeking varied, novel, complex, and intense experiences might negatively interfere with the learning process in both boys and girls. On one hand, this interference reflects that the academic need of organization, planning and a certain tolerance to routine activities is somehow contrary to the sensation seeker nature (Azikiwe, 1998; Cohen, 1991; Hattie, Biggs, & Purdie, 1996; Kaur & Pathania, 2015). On the other hand, the present results suggest that the use of more exploratory strategies such as project-based or discovery learning methods (Krajcik & Blumenfeld, 2006; Poropat, 2014), would probably benefit sensation seekers' arousal needs and would probably facilitate their learning process, and thus, impact their school performance and their vocational development (Gomà-i-Freixanet, 2001; Schmitz & Wilhelm, 2014; Wismeijer & Gomà-i-Freixanet, 2012). Moreover, we also hypothesized that girls would outperform boys. This hypothesis has been confirmed since girls showed higher academic achievement, not only in overall average grades but in three of the specific subjects. These results are in line with previous research supporting the theory that there is an overall female advantage in academic
Table 5 Pearson's correlations between average grades, J-SSS and its subscales for the total sample and by sex with age partialled out. The two last columns are comparing correlation coefficients by sex. Average grades
J-SSS TAS ES Dis BS
Total sample
Sex Boys
Girls
z
p
−0.210⁎⁎ −0.217⁎⁎ −0.032 −0.144⁎
−0.225⁎ −0.153 −0.119 −0.213 −0.055
−0.198⁎ −0.225⁎ −0.059 −0.070 −0.154
−0.20 0.54 −0.43 −1.05 0.72
0.838 0.591 0.663 0.293 0.471
−0.107
Notes: J-SSS = Junior Sensation Seeking Scale; TAS = Thrill and Adventure Seeking; ES = Experience Seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom Susceptibility. ⁎ p b 0.05. ⁎⁎ p b 0.001.
achievement (e.g., Voyer & Voyer, 2014). It is concluded that the main reason for girls outperforming boys at school probably relies in school attitudes and personality differences but not on intelligence (Conard, 2006; Fischer et al., 2013; Furnham & Monsen, 2009; Poropat, 2009; Vecchione, Alessandri, Barbanelli, & Caprara, 2012). For instance, girls show better verbal skills and reading abilities (García et al., 2000; Karthigeyan & Nirmala, 2012), a higher consciousness, a tendency to devote more effort to academic work, attend class regularly, and have greater academic motivation (Conard, 2006; Fischer et al., 2013; Poropat, 2009). Nonetheless, it is worth noting that some studies report that boys show a better performance than girls in Maths and Science (Ellis et al., 2008; Kaur & Gil, 1993), two disciplines that have not been measured in the present study.
4.2. Limitations and future studies We have to comment on some limitations. First, it is a cross-sectional study, it has only included SS in the personality assessment and the data was obtained from high-school students attending charter schools. Accordingly, future studies should use longitudinal designs and a wider range of educational levels and learning methods in order to elucidate to what extent SS and its subscales might discriminate high from low academic performers (Poropat, 2009). Moreover, it would be wise to include SS trait along with other personality variables to explore the additive effect of SS in the prediction of academic performance, as well as the imbalance with other approaches and inhibition behavioral systems (Schmitz & Wilhelm, 2014). Studies analyzing a wider range of characteristics such as intelligence, family, socioeconomic or cultural backgrounds are also encouraged (Andrei, Mancini, Mazzoni, Russo, & Baldaro, 2015; Moreira, Dias, Machado, & Machado, 2013). As previous studies suggest (Eklund & Fritzell, 2013), future research should include private and public schools to control for the effect of school settings on the relation between Sensation Seeking and Academic Performance. Finally, it would also be advisable to include technology, maths, science or sports grades in order to contrast and measure sex differences in academic performance in a more reliable and valid way.
Table 6 Multiple regression analyses of average grades with sex and total J-SSS as predictors. Predictors Average grades
Sex J-SSS
Βeta 0.195 −0.179
Notes: J-SSS = Junior Sensation Seeking Scale. ⁎ p b 0.05.
T
Sig.
R2
2.949 −2.706
0.004⁎ 0.007⁎
0.073
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4.3. Contributions Contributions of the present results highlight the relevance of SS as a personality trait that may affect academic performance, although further research is needed to explore to what extent it is a reliable and discriminatory academic predictor. The present study adds new evidence to previous research suggesting that identifying student's personality profiles requires a significant consideration from educators since it is an essential key point to understand, predict and potentiate the academic achievement of high sensation-seekers (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998; Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2003; Komarraju & Karau, 2005; Poropat, 2014). Therefore, individualized teaching and learning methods would enhance academic motivation and performance of sensation seeking students and therefore reduce the probabilities of negative outcomes from sensation seeking. References Aluja-Fabregat, A., & Torrubia, R. (1998). Viewing of mass media violence, perception of violence, personality and academic achievement. Personality and Individual Differences, 25, 973–989. Andershed, H., Kerr, M., Stattin, H., & Levander, S. (2002). Psychopathic traits in nonreferred youths: A new assessment tool. In E. Blaauw, & L. Sheridan (Eds.), Psychopaths: current international perspectives (pp. 131–158). The Hague: Elsevier. Andrei, F., Mancini, G., Mazzoni, E., Russo, P. M., & Baldaro, B. (2015). Social status and its link with personality dimensions, trait emotional intelligence, and scholastic achievement in children and early adolescents. Learning and Individual Differences, 42, 97–105. Azikiwe, U. (1998). Study approaches of university students. WCCI region II forum. 2. (pp. 106–114). Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2003). Personality predicts academic performance: Evidence from two longitudinal university samples. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 319–338. Cohen, M. D. (1991). Individual learning and organizational routine: Emerging connections. Organization Science, 2(1), 135–139. Conard, M. A. (2006). Aptitude is not enough: How personality and behavior predict academic performance. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(3), 339–346. Eklund, J. M., & Fritzell, J. (2013). Keeping delinquency at bay: The role of the school context for impulsive and sensation-seeking adolescents. European Journal of Criminology, 1477370813512584. Ellis, L., Hershberger, S., Field, E., Wersinger, S., Pellis, S., Geary, D., et al. (2008). Sex differences: Summarizing more than a century of scientific research. New York: Psychology Press. Fischer, F., Schult, J., & Hell, B. (2013). Sex differences in secondary school success: Why female students perform better. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 28, 529–543. Furnham, A., & Monsen, J. (2009). Personality traits and intelligence predict academic school grades. Learning and Individual Differences, 19, 28–33. García, M., Alvarado, J. M., & Jiménez, A. (2000). La predicción del rendimiento académico: regresión lineal versus regresión logística [Predicting academic performance: Lineal regression vs. logistic regression]. Psicothema, 12(2), 248–252. Gomà-i-Freixanet, M. (2001). Prosocial and antisocial aspects of personality in women: A replication study. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 1401–1411. Gomà-i-Freixanet, M., García, G., & Pérez, J. (1991). Rendimiento en tres niveles de enseñanza en función del género [Performance by gender in three educational levels]. Psiquis, 12, 19–27.
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Sensation seeking and high school performance Ramon Cladellas a,⁎, Anna Muro b, Eric A. Vargas-Guzmán b, Adriana Bastardas a, Montserrat Gomà-i-Freixanet b a b
Department of Educational and Basic Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Department of Health and Clinical Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 6 October 2016 Received in revised form 26 May 2017 Accepted 30 May 2017 Available online xxxx Keywords: Sensation seeking Academic performance Gender Personality
a b s t r a c t Previous studies have shown that Sensation Seeking, one of the traits most related to risk taking behavior, is associated with lower academic performance in students with primary and secondary levels of education. Given the relevance of identifying early outcomes of sensation seekers to prevent negative risk taking, the present study explored the relationship between sensation seeking and academic performance in a sample of 216 high-school students (55.6% girls) aged 16 to 18 years old. We administered the Spanish version of the Junior Sensation Seeking Scale (J-SSS) and collected average grades and specific grades from four mandatory school subjects offered in the same semester. Results showed that girls obtained significantly higher average grades and that academic performance was associated with low scores in sensation seeking in both genders. Furthermore, gender and J-SSS scores were the predictors of academic achievement (R2 = 0.073). Results are discussed in terms of the implications of sensation seeking in academic achievement, and we conclude that individualized education programs would include specific interventions for those scoring high on sensation seeking in order to facilitate their academic achievement. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Dispositional theories of personality have long studied the Sensation Seeking (SS) trait to understand, describe and predict risk taking behavior defining it as “the seeking of varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences, and the willingness to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks for the sake of such experience” (Zuckerman, 1994, p. 27).This trait has strong psychobiological correlates, with males scoring higher than females (Zuckerman, 2005) and following a curvilinear pattern that increase between ages 10–15 and decline or remain stable thereafter (Muro, Gomà-i-Freixanet, & Adan, 2012). The Sensation seeking trait has important behavioral implications specifically at adolescence since this developmental period is particularly sensitive to the engagement in risk-taking activities which may result in inadequate decision making with negative outcomes (Gomà-i-Freixanet, Grande, Valero, & Puntí, 2001; Legrand, Gomà-i-Freixanet, Kaltenbach, & Joly, 2007; Steinberg, 2007) that ultimately may result in poor academic performance/achievement. A study using the SS (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998) conducted with a sample of 470 adolescents from secondary levels of education found that boys scoring high on SS, impulsivity and aggressiveness performed worse at school. Disinhibition and Experience Seeking subscales were the most associated with school achievement, with low but significant correlations of −0.24 and −0.17 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Educational and Basic Psychology, Edifici B, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. E-mail address: [email protected] (R. Cladellas).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.049 0191-8869/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
respectively. These associations were not found in girls, suggesting that gender is an important variable to control for when studying the relationship between SS and school performance. This study concluded that the increase disinhibited personality profile of boys probably impaired academic achievement. Empirical results also suggest that the propensity to engage in sensation seeking behaviors interact with environmental characteristics. A recent study by Eklund and Fritzell (2013) has found that school influence is one of the most relevant environmental factors for adolescents engaging in sensation seeking behaviors. This study conducted with 5619 adolescents from 89 secondary schools showed that high scores on sensation seeking were associated with low achievement, disadvantaged school settings and an increased risk for delinquency. Results showed that impulsive and sensation seeking adolescents had less delinquency and higher achievement if they attended the advantaged schools. However, the SS trait was assessed with a scale made up of five items based on the impulsivity and thrill-seeking scales of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (Andershed, Kerr, Stattin, & Levander, 2002). A meta-analysis study exploring the relationship between personality and academic achievement showed that Conscientiousness, which is inversely correlated with SS, is the strongest and most reliable personality variable associated with academic performance at all levels of education (Poropat, 2009). Interestingly, it has been reported that girls at around 16 years old score significantly higher on conscientiousness, suggesting that girls' advantage in academic settings might be mediated by their higher conscientiousness and lower disinhibition (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998; Fischer, Schult, & Hell, 2013). It has also been suggested
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that the general girls' advantage might be due to their better verbal and language skills, and although gender differences in school achievement are rather small, with an overall estimated d of 0.225 (Voyer & Voyer, 2014), the female advantage in school grades is a common finding in the literature (e.g., Gomà-i-Freixanet, García, & Pérez, 1991). Some other lines of research on academic performance have focused on study habits as well-planned and deliberated patterns of study that need high constancy on the part of the students toward understanding academic subjects and passing examinations (Kaur & Pathania, 2015). For example, Azikiwe (1998) defines a study habit as the way a student plans his private readings, after classroom learning, in order to attain mastery of the subject. Consequently, study habits entail the adoption of behavioral routines that facilitate attentional focus on cognitive performance, such as reading and comprehending. At this point, it is worth noting that the traits that are associated with SS and reward sensitivity are also associated with attentional and behavioral disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Graziano et al., 2015). Therefore, from this evidence it is not surprising to find a negative association between SS and academic achievement (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998; Eklund & Fritzell, 2013; Schmitz & Wilhelm, 2014). The association between personality and academic achievement has been studied at the primary and secondary levels of education, but results are inconsistent regarding sex differences: at primary schooling, gender was not significant, while at secondary schooling the effect was only found in boys. The aim of the present study was twofold: a) to explore and replicate previous findings on the relationship between gender, sensation seeking and academic performance in a group of adolescents attending secondary levels of education; and b) to find out if gender, age and/or SS predicted academic achievement. We hypothesized that lower academic performance would be associated with higher scores on SS only in boys and that girls would outperform boys. 2. Methods 2.1. Participants An initial sample of 230 students from three representative charter high schools from Barcelona province participated in this study. Only those participants (93.9%) who entirely answered the questionnaire were included in the data analyses. The final sample (n = 216) consisted of 120 girls (55.6%) and 96 boys, with ages ranging from 16 to 18 years old (M = 16.91; SD = 0.71). 2.2. Materials To assess the sensation seeking trait, the Spanish version of the Junior Sensation Seeking Scale (J-SSS; Pérez, Generós, Plá, & Simó, 1986) was administered. This is an adaptation for adolescents of the Sensation Seeking Scale for adults (Zuckerman, Eysenck, & Eysenck, 1978). The J-SSS includes a total score (J-SSS) and four subscales assessing: Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS), Experience Seeking (ES), Disinhibition (Dis), and Boredom Susceptibility (BS). The TAS subscale contains items expressing a desire to engage in sports or other physically risky activities that provide unusual sensations of speed or defiance of gravity, such as parachuting, scuba diving, or skiing. Because most of the activities are not common, the majority of the items are expressed as intentions (“I would like…”) rather than reports of experience. An attitude item that summarizes the factor is “I like risky sports very much.” The ES subscale encompasses items measuring the seeking of novel sensations and experiences through the mind and senses, travelling, or being unconventional. The Dis subscale contains items describing seeking sensations through social activities such as parties, social drinking, and sex. Finally, the BS subscale measures intolerance for repetitive experiences of any kind, including routine work and boring people. The final total score of the J-SSS is obtained by summing up the four subscales. The scale contains 40 dichotomous items, with scores ranging from 0 to 40 (highest sensation
seeking score). This version also includes a Lie subscale (10 items), assessing social desirability. The internal consistency of the J-SSS for the present sample was alpha = 0.77 and those of the subscales were: TAS = 0.75; ES = 0.72; Dis = 0.69 and BS = 0.64. The reliability of the total scale is similar to that found by the author (Zuckerman et al., 1978).Table 1 shows the correlations between the total scale and the subscales. Correlations among subscales show a reasonable degree of independence and a satisfactory close relationship with the total score. Additionally, we requested the student's current semester grades from their corresponding tutors in order to obtain objective data of their academic performance. Average and exam grades are considered useful measures of academic performance (Poropat, 2009). For the present study, tutors facilitated the students' academic transcript. Researchers registered the grades of four compulsory subjects shared by all High School groups: Philosophy, Native Language (Spanish, Catalan) and Foreign Language (English). It is worth noting that scores from language-based reasoning subjects are suggested to be good predictors of the overall average grade (García, Alvarado, & Jiménez, 2000) and the average grade of the current semester was also obtained calculating the mean grade of each student's academic record. Spanish academic grading system is based on a scale ranging from 0 to 10 (maximum grade).
2.3. Procedure Educational services from Barcelona provided a list with the 23 charter high schools in the province of Barcelona. A charter school is a public school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established public school system in which it is located. From this list, five schools were randomly selected to participate in the study design. Two of them did not accept to collaborate. The number of students per class ranged between 28 and 32 students, resulting in an initial sample of 364 students. Analyses showed that the three schools that participated in the study did not show significant differences in any of the sociodemographic variables recorded. High school headmasters and parents were informed and gave consent prior to participants' inclusion in this study. Some students were discarded for not having parental consent: 34% from one school, 28% from the second school and 38% from the final school. In total, 230 students participated in the study, but only 216 (93.91%) were included in the analyses since the rest did not complete one or more items of the questionnaire. There are no significant differences between the average grade of the students who didn't answer the questionnaire for not having parental consent, the average grade of those students who left one or more items blank, and the selected sample (F = 2.66; p = 0.107). The questionnaire was administered by the research assistants and participants completed the questionnaire voluntarily in classroom settings. The administration process was conducted in groups of 20 to 25 students. When giving instructions, research assistants explained that the results would be treated confidentially. Students did not receive any academic or economic reward for their collaboration. The Ethical Committee of the university and the high schools' management teams approved the protocol. Table 1 Inter-correlations of the sub-scales.
TAS ES Dis BS
ES
Dis
BS
JSSS
0.21⁎
0.31⁎ 0.26⁎
0.11 0.14 0.23⁎
0.69⁎ 0.61⁎ 0.70⁎ 0.56⁎
Notes: J-SSS = Junior Sensation Seeking Scale; TAS = Thrill and Adventure Seeking; ES = Experience Seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom Susceptibility. ⁎ p b 0.001.
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2.4. Statistical analyses
Table 3 Global adjustment statistics for all variables.
The fact that subjects in the same group (classes or school) may not be independent constitutes a serious breach of a basic assumption of the general linear model: independence between observations. Keeping this in mind, we carried out a multivariate analysis consisting of three levels: level 1 (student); level 2 (classes) and level 3 (school). School and classes have not been treated separately but jointly as classes are nested within schools. Table 2 shows the corresponding intra-class correlations (ICC) and design effects of all the dependent variables (school grades and J-SSS scores) being 0.049 (4.9%) the highest ICC value found and all design effects resulting in b 2. Further, Table 3 shows how the difference between the −2 log-likelihood value for the single-level model and the −2 log-likelihood value for the multilevel model is, for all variables, less than the critical value for a test at the 5% level in a chi-squared distribution. We clearly reject the hypothesis of School-Class differences and conclude that there is no evidence of between-school-class variation in any of the variables. These results support the non-inclusion of a multilevel analysis in the article. The differences that can be found in the results are not significant. Analyzing data with multilevel models when they don't provide a bias reduction adds unnecessary parameters to the model and contradicts the principle of parsimony, increases residual variance and, consequently, the size of the confidence intervals, and in general reduces statistical power. Taking into account all of the above we carried out the following statistical analyses. We calculated descriptive statistics for school grades and for J-SSS scores, and conducted a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) considering the four individual subject results and a separate ANCOVA with the average grades score testing for sex differences. We also conducted a second MANCOVA considering the subscales of the J-SSS and a separate ANCOVA with the total J-SSS testing for sex differences. In both analyses, age was introduced as a covariate. We also calculated the observed power and partial eta-squared (η2) as a measure of effect size. Furthermore, we calculated Pearson correlations between the average grades and the J-SSS and its 4 subscales for the total sample and by gender, controlling for age. Finally, an additional linear regression analysis was performed using a stepwise procedure to select the most predictive variable of academic performance. Data analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical package (version 20.0), and statistical tests were bilateral with Type 1 error set at 5%.
Table 2 Estimates of covariance parameters, ICC (intra-class correlations) and DE (Design Effect) for all variables. Variable
Parameter
Variance Estimate
Sig.
ICC
DE
Average grades
Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School) Residual Class(School)
2.129481 0.075540 3.014498 0.031115 3.342665 0.168583 2.960955 0.058031 5.033085 0.263212 27.755675 0.507101 5.814677 0.015346 3.584730 0.135710 4.848799 0.038607 3.739415 0.105683
0.000 0.376 0.000 0.725 0.000 0.225 0.000 0.559 0.000 0.189 0.000 0.578 0.000 0.872 0.000 0.366 0.000 0.706 0.000 0.448
0.034
1.41
0.010
1.12
0.048
1.58
0.019
1.23
0.049
1.59
0.018
1.22
0.003
1.04
0.036
1.43
0.008
1.10
0.027
1.32
Philosophy Catalan Spanish English J-SSS TAS ES Dis BS
119
Variable
−2 log single model
−2 log multilevel model
Difference
Average grades Philosophy Catalan Spanish English J-SSS TAS ES Dis BS
784.848 854.780 881.279 852.708 961.966 1333.613 994.382 899.530 956.246 901.709
783.453 854.629 878.038 852.222 958.567 1333.181 994.349 896.403 956.017 899.336
1.39 0.15 3.24 0.49 3.39 0.43 0.03 3.13 0.23 2.37
3. Results Descriptive statistics are shown in Table 4 for the total sample and by sex. A first MANCOVA and ANCOVA for academic performance showed significant sex differences, with girls obtaining higher average grades, as well as higher grades in the rest of the subjects except for English. A second MANCOVA and ANCOVA for J-SSS scores showed that boys scored significantly higher in TAS and lower in ES. Table 5 shows correlations between average grades and J-SSS for the total sample and by gender. For the total sample, average grades were negatively correlated with the total scale and the subscales. Regarding gender, boys' average grade correlated significantly only with J-SSS; while as for girls, average grades correlated significantly with the J-SSS and TAS subscale. After testing with the z statistic if the pattern of correlations in both genders was different, we found that it did not differ between boys and girls. With the aim of testing if gender interacted with sensation seeking values, we generated a new variable which was the result of crossing gender with J-SSS. We conducted a multiple regression analysis including this newly generated variable, age, gender and J-SSS. This regression showed that the interaction was not significant (β = 0.065, p = 0.834). Therefore we readjusted the model without including the interaction. The final model (see Table 6) including gender and J-SSS indicated that sex (β = 0.195) and J-SSS (β = −0.179) were the predictors of academic performance (R2 = 0.073). 4. Discussion 4.1. Conclusions The goal of the present study was to explore to what extent gender and sensation seeking are associated with academic performance in a sample of high-school adolescents. We hypothesized that lower academic performance would be associated with higher scores on SS only in boys. Our hypothesis has been partially confirmed since the present results indicate that this trend is found for both genders. Although the correlations found between achievement and SS are low, the consistent pattern of an inverse relationship suggests that SS could affect academic achievement in a similar direction than high scores in Extraversion, Neuroticism, or Psychoticism do (Poropat, 2009). However the present study did not find any interaction with gender. Thus results from previous research in secondary school settings that revealed that only boys who scored higher in SS underperform at school (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998) have not been replicated. These differences might be due to sampling characteristics, sociocultural changes across time or delayed pubertal maturation of some adolescents. Another difference with previous samples in secondary school settings (Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia, 1998) is that in the present sample the subscales most associated with overall achievement in high-schoolers were TAS and Dis, while in lower grades the associated subscales were ES and Dis. It is noticeable that in the present sample, girls score significantly higher than boys in ES. This might suggest that SS behaviors could differ by gender through the stages of
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Table 4 Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations, F, p, η2, observed power and sex effect (IC 95%)) of grades and J-SSS for the total sample and by sex. Sex
Average grades Philosophy Catalan Spanish English J-SSS TAS ES Dis BS
Total sample (n = 216) M (SD)
Boys (n = 96) M (SD)
Girls (n = 120) M (SD)
F
p
η2
Observed power
Sex effect (IC 95%)
6.28 (0.09) 5.96 (0.12) 5.85 (0.13) 5.94 (0.12) 5.97 (0.15) 23.43 (0.36) 6.37 (0.16) 6.46 (0.13) 6.07 (0.15) 4.53 ± 0.13
5.97 (0.13) 5.55 (0.15) 5.41 (0.18) 5.57 (0.17) 5.70 (0.23) 23.68 (0.52) 6.85 (0.25) 5.88 (0.19) 6.42 (0.21) 4.53 (0.20)
6.53 (0.13) 6.29 (0.17) 6.19 (0.17) 6.23 (0.16) 6.19 (0.20) 23.23 (0.51) 5.98 (0.21) 6.93 (0.17) 5.80 (0.21) 4.53 (0.18)
7.11 8.60 7.79 5.30 2.04 0.11 6.59 17.09 3.48 0.15
0.008 0.004 0.006 0.022 0.154 0.223 0.011 0.000 0.063 0.702
0.032 0.039 0.035 0.024 0.009 0.001 0.030 0.074 0.016 0.001
0.756 0.831 0.794 0.630 0.296 0.062 0.724 0.984 0.459 0.067
−0.2.666 (−0.871; −0.130) −0.2.933 (−1.163; −0.228) −2.792 (−1.200; −0.207) −2.302 (−0.993; −0.077) −1.429 (−1.057; 0.168) 0.328 (−1.210; 1.693) 2.566 (0.197; 1.503) −4.134 (−1.587; −0.562) 1.866 (−0.032; 1.169) −0.384 (−0.631; 0.425)
Notes: J-SSS: Junior Sensation Seeking Scale; TAS = Thrill and Adventure Seeking; ES = Experience Seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom Susceptibility.
adolescence, and that some specific SS subscales discriminate performance at different levels of education. Accordingly, further longitudinal studies would be needed to disentangle this association. Although in the present study SS and sex only explain 7.3% of the variance in average grades, it is worth noting that some studies using global models of personality explained around 15% of the variance in academic performance (Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2003; Komarraju, Karau, Schmeck, & Avdic, 2011). The modest predictive value of the SS trait in the present study might probably be due to the fact that this is a narrow personality trait considered alone in the analyses, and other traits or broader dimensions of personality have not been included. Despite this modest predictive value, the consistent inverse relationship found between SS and school grades might confirm that the arousing need of seeking varied, novel, complex, and intense experiences might negatively interfere with the learning process in both boys and girls. On one hand, this interference reflects that the academic need of organization, planning and a certain tolerance to routine activities is somehow contrary to the sensation seeker nature (Azikiwe, 1998; Cohen, 1991; Hattie, Biggs, & Purdie, 1996; Kaur & Pathania, 2015). On the other hand, the present results suggest that the use of more exploratory strategies such as project-based or discovery learning methods (Krajcik & Blumenfeld, 2006; Poropat, 2014), would probably benefit sensation seekers' arousal needs and would probably facilitate their learning process, and thus, impact their school performance and their vocational development (Gomà-i-Freixanet, 2001; Schmitz & Wilhelm, 2014; Wismeijer & Gomà-i-Freixanet, 2012). Moreover, we also hypothesized that girls would outperform boys. This hypothesis has been confirmed since girls showed higher academic achievement, not only in overall average grades but in three of the specific subjects. These results are in line with previous research supporting the theory that there is an overall female advantage in academic
Table 5 Pearson's correlations between average grades, J-SSS and its subscales for the total sample and by sex with age partialled out. The two last columns are comparing correlation coefficients by sex. Average grades
J-SSS TAS ES Dis BS
Total sample
Sex Boys
Girls
z
p
−0.210⁎⁎ −0.217⁎⁎ −0.032 −0.144⁎
−0.225⁎ −0.153 −0.119 −0.213 −0.055
−0.198⁎ −0.225⁎ −0.059 −0.070 −0.154
−0.20 0.54 −0.43 −1.05 0.72
0.838 0.591 0.663 0.293 0.471
−0.107
Notes: J-SSS = Junior Sensation Seeking Scale; TAS = Thrill and Adventure Seeking; ES = Experience Seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom Susceptibility. ⁎ p b 0.05. ⁎⁎ p b 0.001.
achievement (e.g., Voyer & Voyer, 2014). It is concluded that the main reason for girls outperforming boys at school probably relies in school attitudes and personality differences but not on intelligence (Conard, 2006; Fischer et al., 2013; Furnham & Monsen, 2009; Poropat, 2009; Vecchione, Alessandri, Barbanelli, & Caprara, 2012). For instance, girls show better verbal skills and reading abilities (García et al., 2000; Karthigeyan & Nirmala, 2012), a higher consciousness, a tendency to devote more effort to academic work, attend class regularly, and have greater academic motivation (Conard, 2006; Fischer et al., 2013; Poropat, 2009). Nonetheless, it is worth noting that some studies report that boys show a better performance than girls in Maths and Science (Ellis et al., 2008; Kaur & Gil, 1993), two disciplines that have not been measured in the present study.
4.2. Limitations and future studies We have to comment on some limitations. First, it is a cross-sectional study, it has only included SS in the personality assessment and the data was obtained from high-school students attending charter schools. Accordingly, future studies should use longitudinal designs and a wider range of educational levels and learning methods in order to elucidate to what extent SS and its subscales might discriminate high from low academic performers (Poropat, 2009). Moreover, it would be wise to include SS trait along with other personality variables to explore the additive effect of SS in the prediction of academic performance, as well as the imbalance with other approaches and inhibition behavioral systems (Schmitz & Wilhelm, 2014). Studies analyzing a wider range of characteristics such as intelligence, family, socioeconomic or cultural backgrounds are also encouraged (Andrei, Mancini, Mazzoni, Russo, & Baldaro, 2015; Moreira, Dias, Machado, & Machado, 2013). As previous studies suggest (Eklund & Fritzell, 2013), future research should include private and public schools to control for the effect of school settings on the relation between Sensation Seeking and Academic Performance. Finally, it would also be advisable to include technology, maths, science or sports grades in order to contrast and measure sex differences in academic performance in a more reliable and valid way.
Table 6 Multiple regression analyses of average grades with sex and total J-SSS as predictors. Predictors Average grades
Sex J-SSS
Βeta 0.195 −0.179
Notes: J-SSS = Junior Sensation Seeking Scale. ⁎ p b 0.05.
T
Sig.
R2
2.949 −2.706
0.004⁎ 0.007⁎
0.073
R. Cladellas et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 117 (2017) 117–121
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